PENANG, July 11 (Bernama) — The Penang state government on Saturday made a police report regarding the ownership of the land in Kampung Buah Pala, Bukit Gelugor, here.

The report was made by Komtar state assemblyman Ng Wei Aik at the Timur Laut police district headquarters at 1.20pm today.

Speaking to reporters later, Ng, who is also the political secretary to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, said he wanted the police to investigate in detail the sale of the land.

“This is a big question regarding whether there is anyone having self interest when approving the land sale,” he said.

Earlier, the present Penang state government had charged that the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) state government had sold the land cheaply to the Penang Government Officers Cooperative.

“Although the award of the land (to the cooperative) was to replace the site next to Dewan Sri Pinang for an additional court building, we find that the approval was made without reference to the market value reports for both the sites,” Ng said.

The Kampung Buah Pala issue arose when the villagers were asked to vacate the land after the Federal Court rejected their appeal to remain there as they had been doing for a long time.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today the Kampung Buah Pala land tussle must be settled by the Penang state government, passing the buck back to the DAP-led Pakatan Rakyat (PR) administration in what is turning into a racial powder keg.

The Penang state government said yesterday it would be writing to Najib to seek assistance from the federal government to take over the piece of prime land.

A small number of families in Kampung Buah Pala, in the Glugor area of Penang, are facing eviction after a private developer won outright ownership of the land recently.

But a number of Hindu Rights Action Front (Hindraf) activists have seized on the residents’ predicament, and turned the dispute into a racial issue.

Today, Najib said the residents’ predicament was a state matter and should be settled at the state government level. The prime minister’s remarks shut the door on the possibility of any federal intervention.

He said the federal government wanted to avoid involving itself in the issue of helping the residents of Kampung Buah Pala as it considers land a state matter and intervention would also open the door for many other similar cases to seek federal government help.

“Land is a state matter and if we intervene, it would create a precedent and we would be asked to intervene in many other cases,” Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told reporters today.

The Penang state government has already said it would be too costly to acquire the land, and let the residents – mostly Indian cowherds – continue staying there.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state government could not afford the high cost of taking over the land to enable 23 families to continue occupying the area.

He had hoped the federal government could assist in acquiring the land from Koperasi Pegawai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang and pay compensation to developer Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd.

No quick resolution to the controversy is now in sight, with certain Hindraf leaders ratcheting up the rhetoric against the Penang government with plans to use the issue as a cause célèbre to revive the group’s own flagging fortunes.

Conflicting reports from residents say the disputed land had been held in trust for their use. The trust was apparently set up by the previous colonial-era owners of the land.

The nature and conditions of the trust has not been disclosed, but legal experts say such documents cannot be enforced in perpetuity.

But it has also been reported that the property had been converted into Temporary Occupation License (TOL) land after independence.

The land was eventually sold and alienated to the new owners during the tenure of the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

It was reported that, following a lawsuit, the Federal Court had declared the residents had no locus standi, or legal standing, to lay claim to the land.

But since the involvement of Hindraf, the controversy has taken on emotional and racial overtones.

It is unclear if residents want to continue staying on the land or if they want better compensation than what has been offered by the developers.

SELANGOR GOVERNMENT ENDS LAND ACQUISITION DISPUTE WITH TEMUAN TRIBE IN SAGONG TASI CASE

SHAH ALAM: The State Executive Councilors’ Meeting today decided to withdraw the State Government’s appeal to the Federal Court with respect to the Sagong Tasi case involving the acquisition of 38.477 acres of the Temuan tribe’s customary lands at Bukit Tampoi, Dengkil in 1995.

Accordingly, the State Legal Advisor will inform the Federal Court tomorrow of the State Government’s intention to withdraw from the case.

The State has also taken into account the concerns raised in the Court of Appeal judgment in respect of the gazette of Orang Asli land and has formed an Orang Asli Land Taskforce – which will be launched on May 4, 2009 – to address land-related issues.

The Pakatan Rakyat Government in Selangor hopes that the decision will foster a stronger working relationship needed to address all the problems of the Orang Asli who have been marginalized from mainstream development. The State Government believes in protecting the rights of indigenous peoples and will continue to treat the Orang Asli community with the respect they deserve and that should have been accorded to them from the very beginning.

TAN SRI ABDUL KHALID IBRAHIM
SELANGOR MENTERI BESAR

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S’gor pulls out from fighting Orang Asli case
Apr 22, 09 3:59pm Malaysiakini.com
The Selangor government has decided not to challenge the landmark court judgment which recognised the right of a group of Orang Asli to their customary land in Bukit Tampoi, Dengkil.
MCPX
In 2005, the Court of Appeal upheld the Shah Alam High Court’s judgment that Sagong Tasi and six others from the Temuan tribe be compensated under the Land Acquisition Act 1960 for the loss of their 38-acre customary land in Bukit Tampoi.

The court dismissed the appeal by the federal government, the Selangor government, the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) and United Engineers Malaysia Berhad (UEM) who argued that native customary and ancestral rights are not equivalent to propriety rights under common law.

Both UEM and MHA have been ordered by the court to pay damages for trespassing on the ancestral land to build a highway to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

The two were also ordered to pay exemplary and special damages for the harsh treatment meted out to the Orang Asli when being evicted from their land.

On hearing the judgment, 350 Orang Asli who had gathered outside the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya jumped for joy.

But their jubilation was short-lived as the four appellants have since gone to the Federal Court – the country’s highest court – in the bid to reverse the judgment.

Gov’t wants to protect their rights

But today, the executive council of the Selangor government, one of the four appellants, has decided to pull out from the case.

“Accordingly, the state legal advisor will inform the Federal Court tomorrow of the state government’s intention to withdraw from the case,” said Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim.

Khalid said that his state government will set up an Orang Asli Land Taskforce, to be launched on May 4, to address such land-related issues.

“The Pakatan Rakyat government in Selangor hopes that the decision (to withdraw from the case) will foster a stronger working relationship needed to address all the problems of the Orang Asli who have been marginalised from mainstream development.

“The state government believes in protecting the rights of indigenous peoples and will continue to treat the Orang Asli community with the respect they deserve and that should have been accorded to them from the very beginning.”

The federal government has argued that prior to the tribe’s settlement in Bukit Tampoi 210 years ago, the land was already owned by the Selangor sultanate and therefore they could not have held native or customary rights status.

“The decision of the Appeals Court was therefore fundamentally flawed as the status of the land, which was part of the sultanate land, was not properly considered in the judgment,” senior federal counsel Mary Lim told the Federal Court.